Research – Rule of fear: ISIS abuses in detention in northern Syria

This briefing describes serious abuses of human rights committed in detention facilities run by the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS),1 an armed opposition group that currently controls significant swathes of territory and people in northern Syria, including in al- Raqqa governorate and in and around Aleppo and Idlib. In these areas, ISIS claims it is fighting to establish an “Islamic state” and has introduced harsh rules that it said were based on Shari’a (Islamic law), including cruel and inhuman punishments such as flogging and summary killings in public.